Customer callback reward system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method for handling calls at one or more call centers. In an exemplary method of the invention, it may be determined whether a call should be transferred from the VSS to an agent of a call center based on, for example, agent availability or queue wait times. When it is determined to transfer the call to the agent, it may be determined whether a callback call should be offered to the caller. When it is determined to offer the callback call, the method may include providing one or more time blocks to which the caller can initiate the callback call to receive higher priority routing. Upon calling back into the system within one of the time blocks, the call may receive preferential routing treatment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The disclosure relates generally to a system and method for handlingcalls at a call center, and more particularly, to a system and methodfor rewarding a customer for calling back to a call center at a moreappropriate time based on projected call volumes.

2. Background Art

In a many business situations, call centers are resource constrained.Take for instance the scenario where a call center is fielding telephonecalls but is populated with a finite number of agents and can, thus,handle only a certain volume of calls. The call center may experiencedrastically different usage patterns at any given time. As such, duringa time of high volume calling, calls that are directed to the callcenter may cause a caller to wait extended periods of time beforereaching a call center agent.

Various solutions have been proposed and used to route customers amongcall centers to alleviate waiting times for a customer. One proposedsolution is a carrier-based network routing scheme which uses a fixed orstatic allocation percentage to define how calls are allocated amongseveral call centers.

Further, many Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) vendors provide overflowrouting between their own ACD systems. When one particular ACDapproaches its maximum capacity, calls are redirected to another ACDthat has a lighter call load.

Also, software-based telephony integration systems have been employed tocreate a virtual call center enterprise. Such systems may use open,distributed software architecture that manages voice and datadistribution across an enterprise. The software processes a combinationof customer and contact center data by using user-defined routingscripts that reflect a company's business rules. The software is thenable to route each contact to the optimum resource anywhere in theenterprise. While related art software-based solutions may provide arobust solution to allocate calls efficiently within an enterprise, theyare extremely expensive to deploy, and are suitable for only the largestof call centers.

Accordingly, the related art methods can be costly to implement orresource constrained. Thus, there is a need for a relatively low cost,robust system that is able to use callback logic to determine if acallback should be offered to a customer of a call center based onprojected queue wait times rather than having the customer wait on theline for a call center agent. The system preferably requires little inthe way of hardware to implement.

The illustrative aspects of the present disclosure are designed to solvethe problems herein described and/or other problems not discussed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the disclosure provides a method for handling calls atone or more call centers. In the method, a call may be routed from acaller at the one or more call centers calls into a Voice Self Service(VSS). Then, it may be determined whether the call should be transferredfrom the VSS to an agent of the call center based on, for example, agentavailability or queue wait times. When it is determined to transfer thecall to the call center agent, it may be determined whether a callbackcall should be offered to the caller. When it is determined to offer thecallback call, the method may include providing one or more time blocksto which the caller can initiate the callback call to receive higherpriority routing. Upon calling back into the system within one of thetime blocks, the call may receive preferential routing treatment.

A second aspect of the disclosure provides s system for handling callsat one or more call centers. The system may include a Voice Self Service(VSS) structured to receive and route a call from a caller at the one ormore call centers calls; and a processor structured to determine whetherthe call received at the VSS should be transferred from the VSS to anagent of the call center. When it is determined to transfer the call tothe call center agent, the processor may further be structured todetermine a queue time for the call, and determine whether a callbackcall should be offered to the caller. When it is determined to offer thecallback call, the processor is further structured to offer the callbackcall to the caller. Upon calling back into the system within an offeredtime block, the call may receive preferential routing treatment. Thesystem may also include a memory communicably coupled to the processor,wherein the memory stores data and/or logic used by the processor.

A third aspect of the disclosure provides a computer readable medium forhandling calls at one or more call centers, the computer readable mediumincluding computer-executable instructions, the instructions forperforming steps of methods of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of this disclosure will be more readilyunderstood from the following detailed description of the variousaspects of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings that depict various embodiments of the disclosure, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a system for handling calls at one or more call centersaccording to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a system and method for handling a call where a callercalls into the one or more call centers and accepts a callbackopportunity according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention;and

FIG. 3 shows a system and method for handling a call where a callercalls back into the system at a scheduled time to receive preferentialcall routing treatment according to an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

It is noted that the drawings of the disclosure are not to scale. Thedrawings are intended to depict only typical aspects of the disclosure,and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of thedisclosure. In the drawings, like numbering represents like elementsbetween the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As indicated above, the disclosure provides a system and method forrewarding a customer for calling back to a call center at a moreappropriate time based on projected call volumes. FIG. 1 shows anillustrative embodiment of a system 10 for handling calls at one or morecall centers. The illustrative system 10 includes a client 11, a VoiceSelf Service (VSS) server 12 having program logic 14 and callback logic15 stored in memory 13, and a call center server 30.

The client 11 may include any computer architecture that will enable acaller to communicate in a network by receiving and sending calls, suchas a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mainframecomputer, a desktop computer, a handheld computer, a Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) station, etc.

VSS server 12 may further include a processor 22, an input/output (I/O)24, and the memory 13 for storing at least one of the program logic 14and callback logic 15 (e.g., as a program product that can be executedby processor 22). As is known in the art, in general, processor 22executes computer program code that is stored in memory 13. Whileexecuting computer program code, processor 22 can read and/or writedata, such as agent availability data and/or queue time data, to/frommemory 13, and/or I/O interface 24. Bus 18 provides a communicationslink between each of the components in VSS server 12. I/O device 24 cancomprise any device that enables a user to interact with VSS server 12or any device that enables VSS server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Input/output devices (including but not limitedto keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to thesystem either directly or through intervening I/O controllers.

In any event, VSS server 12 can comprise any general purpose computingarticle of manufacture capable of executing computer program codeinstalled by a user (e.g., a personal computer, server, handheld device,etc.). However, it is understood that VSS server 12 is onlyrepresentative of various possible equivalent computing devices that mayperform the various process steps of the disclosure. To this extent, inother embodiments, VSS server 12 can comprise any specific purposecomputing article of manufacture comprising hardware and/or computerprogram code for performing specific functions, any computing article ofmanufacture that comprises a combination of specific purpose and generalpurpose hardware/software, or the like. In each case, the program codeand hardware can be created using standard programming and engineeringtechniques, respectively.

It should be noted that while the VSS server 12 described in theillustrative embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1 is embodied asa server, separate from the call center server 30, the VSS server 12could be, among others, (1) co-located on the same machine as the callcenter server 30, (2) on the same machine as the client 11, (3) on thesame machine as both the client 11 and call center server 30, and/or (4)on a separate machine as shown.

Similarly, system 10 is only illustrative of various types of computerinfrastructures for implementing the disclosure. For example, in oneembodiment, system 10 comprises two or more computing devices (e.g., aserver cluster) that communicate over any type of wired and/or wirelesscommunications link, such as a network, a shared memory, or the like, toperform the various process steps of the disclosure. When thecommunications link comprises a network, the network can comprise anycombination of one or more types of networks (e.g., the Internet, a widearea network, a local area network, a virtual private network, etc.).Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modems and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters. Regardless,communications between the computing devices may utilize any combinationof various types of transmission techniques.

It is understood that some of the various systems shown in FIG. 1 can beimplemented independently, combined, and/or stored in memory for one ormore separate computing devices that are included in system 10. Further,it is understood that some of the systems and/or functionality may notbe implemented, or additional systems and/or functionality may beincluded as part of system 10.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the call center server 30 may also includeany computer architecture that will enable the call center server 30 tocommunicate in a network by receiving and sending signals. The callcenter server 30 may, for example, include similar architecture asdescribed above for the VSS server 12.

FIG. 2. shows a system and method for handling a call where a callercalls into the one or more call centers and accepts a callbackopportunity according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention. InFIG. 2, a caller using client 11 calls into the VSS server 12 and thecall proceeds through a program flow at program logic 14 until it isdetermined that the call should be transferred to a call center 30.

The program logic 14 then messages the callback logic 15 to determinewhether a callback should be offered. Either in the callback logic 15 orfrom the system using agent information, a determination is made as towhether it would be more desirable to take a call later at the callcenter 30 when projected queue times will be less. If the program flowdetermines that now is a good time to handle the call, the call isrouted to the call center 30.

If it is determined that later is a better time to handle the call, theVSS server 12 informs the caller that estimated queue times are high,and also provides a message to the caller such as “we can moreefficiently handle your call at a later time, if you would like toschedule a time to call us back, we will make sure that your call ishandled quickly when it arrives.”

If the caller declines the offer to call back at a later time, then thecall is directed on to the call center 30. If the caller accepts thecallback offer, the program flow then offers the caller time blocks towhich the caller can call back in and receive a higher priority routing.These time blocks may be determined by either the system with agentinformation or by logic 14, 15 on the VSS server 12 itself. The VSSserver 12 may then play the caller a thank you message and thendisconnect the caller.

FIG. 3 shows a system and method for handling a call where a callercalls back into the system at a scheduled time to receive preferentialcall routing treatment according to an illustrative embodiment of theinvention. When the caller calls back in during the appropriate timeblock, the VSS server 12 may determine that this is the same caller asbefore. This determination can be accomplished in a variety of ways,such as matching Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and/or accountinformation, and/or accomplished by using Access Point Names (APNs).

The VSS server 12 may then play a message thanking the caller forcalling back and inform the caller that they are receiving preferentialcall routing treatment. The VSS server 12 may then transfer the callwith preferential routing. Preferential routing may be any system inwhich the call is routed with the opportunity to reach an agent faster.This may include, for example, placing the customer in a higher priorityqueue 31 and/or placing the customer in a queue 32 ahead of thosealready in the queue 32.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionis preferably realized in a hardware device such as a computer, and inother embodiments, the present invention can be realized in hardware,software, firmware or a combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of anentirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore,the present invention may take the form of a computer program productembodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer-usableprogram code embodied in the medium.

Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as thosesupporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device.Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even bepaper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, asthe program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited towireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely onthe remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user's computer through any type ofnetwork, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (forexample, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The present invention is described above with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of systems and methods according toembodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block ofthe flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The description of the present disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application,and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand thedisclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated.

1. A method for handling calls at one or more call centers, comprising:routing a call received from a caller at the one or more call centersinto a Voice Self Service (VSS); determining whether the call should betransferred from the VSS to an agent of the call center; when it isdetermined to transfer the call to the agent, determining a queue timefor a first normal priority queue for the call, and whether a callbackcall should offered to the caller; when it is determined to offer thecallback call, offering the callback call to the caller; offering thecaller one or more time blocks to which the caller can initiate thecallback call to receive higher priority routing; receiving the callbackcall and determining whether the callback call is from the caller of thecall; and when it is determined that the callback call is from thecaller of the call, placing the callback call into a second higherpriority queue.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the queuetime is determined based on at least one of program logic and agentavailability.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when it isdetermined to offer the callback call, the VSS informs the caller thatestimated queue times are high, and that the call center can handle thecall more efficiently at a later time.
 4. The method according to claim1, further comprising, when the caller declines the callback call,transferring the call to the queue.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein the time blocks are determined by at least one of program logicand agent availability.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein thedetermination of the caller of the callback call is based on at leastone of matching Automatic Number Identification (ANI), accountinformation, and one or more Access Point Names (APNs).
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising, when it is determined that thecallback call is from the caller of the call, playing a message thankingthe caller for calling back and informing the caller that the caller isreceiving preferential routing treatment.
 8. The method according toclaim 7, wherein placing the callback call into the higher priorityqueue comprises placing the callback call into the higher priority queueahead of other calls already in the higher priority queue.
 9. A systemfor handling calls at one or more call centers, the system comprising: aVoice Self Service (VSS) structured to receive and route a call receivedfrom a caller at the one or more call centers calls; a processorstructured to determine whether the call received at the VSS should betransferred from the VSS to an agent of the call center; wherein when itis determined to transfer the call to the agent, the processor isfurther structured to determine a queue time for a first normal priorityqueue for the call, and determine whether a callback call should offeredto the caller, and when it is determined to offer the callback call, theprocessor is further structured to offer the caller one or more timeblocks to which the caller can initiate the callback call to receivehigher priority routing; receive the callback call and determine whetherthe callback call is from the caller of the call; and when it isdetermined that the callback call is from the caller of the call, theprocessor is further structured to place the callback call into a secondhigher priority queue; and a memory communicably coupled to theprocessor, wherein the memory stores data used by the processor.
 10. Thesystem according to claim 9, wherein the memory stores at least one ofprogram logic and agent availability data used by the processor todetermine the queue time.
 11. The system according to claim 9, whereinat least one of the VSS and processor is structured to providepreferential routing treatment for the callback call including at leastone of placing the callback call into a higher priority queue andplacing the callback call into the queue ahead of other calls already inthe queue.
 12. A non-transitory computer readable medium for handlingcalls at one or more call centers, the computer readable mediumincluding computer-executable instructions, the instructions for:routing a call received from a caller at the one or more call centersinto a Voice Self Service (VSS); determining whether the call should betransferred from the VSS to an agent of the call center; when it isdetermined to transfer the call to the agent, determining a queue timefor a first normal priority queue for the call, and whether a callbackcall should be offered to the caller and; when it is determined to offerthe callback call, offering the callback call to the caller; offeringthe caller one or more time blocks to which the caller can initiate thecallback call to receive higher priority routing; receiving the callbackcall and determining whether the callback call is from the caller of thecall; and when it is determined that the callback call is from thecaller of the call, placing the callback call into a second higherpriority queue.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable mediumaccording to claim 12, wherein the instructions determine the queue timebased on at least one of program logic and agent availability.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 12, when thecaller declines the callback call, the instructions are further fortransferring the call to the queue.
 15. The non-transitory computerreadable medium according to claim 12, wherein the time blocks aredetermined by at least one of program logic and agent availability. 16.The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 12,wherein the instructions are further for receiving the callback call anddetermining whether the callback call is from the caller of the call.